'They were trying to rip me off': Why Dan Ewing had to turn down a big Hollywood role

Dan Ewing admitted to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O this week that his Hollywood ambition pretty much cost him his marriage.

It turns out it could have cost him his self-respect too, because of a blockbuster role that was dangled in front of him.

The former Home and Away star told The Daily Telegraph he was offered a leading role in a major action movie, but his sixth sense told him to turn it down.

"It wasn't shooting in the US, and they were like, 'We'll offer the lead role to an Australian because we'll get him for cheap,'" the 31-year-old actor recalled.

"It's like this multimillion-dollar American studio, and they were trying to rip someone off because they weren't American."

The main competition was an American actor who didn't receive quite the same offer as Dan.

"Because they were filming in another country they could technically offer me less than him," he added. "Don't get me wrong - it's not about the big pay packet. It's about respect and valuing yourself as an Australian actor.

"We're worth every bit as much as the other guys are."

Giving up the role may have meant deferring his dream of international stardom, but Dan stands by his choice.

"It was tough, because it would have almost certainly catapulted my career in the US, but I made a decision to value myself as a performer," he said.

Eventually, he moved his family back to Australia, where he shot his new movie Red Billabong.

Sadly, Dan's three-and-a-half-year marriage to Marni, mother of his one-year-old son Archie, didn't survive for long after the difficult Hollywood experience, as you'll hear in the audio interview below.

"I regret not appreciating what I had," he admitted to The Daily Telegraph. "I had a beautiful wife and little boy, and I've learned the grumpy old depressed fool thing didn't work.

"I was just creating a negative energy to be around - I wish I'd woken up to that sooner. I still love Marni with all my heart."

Related video: Dan Ewing discusses the end of his marriage